Rotary snow-plow.



W. H. FERGUSON.

ROTARY SNOW PLOW.

APPLICATIoN .rum JULY 21,1909.

Patented may 1o, 1910.

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witness MQ-f w. H. FERGUSON.

ROTARY SNOW PLOW.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 21,1909. 957,503. Patented May 10,1910.

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Ferjgws'ow,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. FERGUSON, 0F LA GM.NDE, OREGON.

ROTARY SNOW-PLW.

` of Oregon, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in RotarySnow-Flows,

of which the following is a specilication.

My invention relates to steam snow plows' of the kind used on ailroads7and in general ternis it includes a car-like structure lia-ving its forard end pointed and provided on the two sides of the pointed end withrotary snow-removing wheels provided with blades which are adapted tocut into the snow to disintegrate it and earr it. upward and fan it outthrough opposed blower pipes or chutes arranged on each side of the car.These chutes are provided` with hoods which may be turned in anydirection which it is desired to throw the snow. It will be understoodthat the wheels which eut. and raise the snow also form fans whereby thedisintegrated. snow is blown upwa 'd through the chutes. These opposedcutting and' tanning wheels are driven by any suitable mechanism mountedin the interior of the car, whereby either one or both ot' the cuttingwheels may be used, depending upon circumstances.

The invention also consists 'in the details of constructimi andarrangement of parts as set forth in the following description andparticularly stated in the claims appended. 'lhe objecty of theinvention is to provide a snow plow wherein the plow t'aees are formedwith disintegrating whe is which shall cut: up the snow and carry it av.ay from the snow bank and force itI out through blower chutes, and alsoto provide means whereby at the saine time that the wall of snow at. thefront of the car is beingl cleared away, the snow between and ou eachside of the track rails may be thrown off to the side. .For a fullunderstanding of the invention and the' merits thereof, and to acquire aknowledge ofthe details of construction, reference is to be had to thefollowiner description and accompanying drawings, in which: Figure l isa side elevation ot' a snow plow constructed in accordance with myinvention; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal horizontal section of the plow shownin Fig. l on the. line 2--25 ["ig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical scctionof said car; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary bottoni plan view nl the front endof the ear; Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail, showing the mounting of thehood upon the npp;.r end of Specification oi Letters Patent.

Application filed July 21, 1909.

Patented May 10, 1910.

serial No. 508,755.

the blower chate; and, Fig. 6 is a diametrical section of one of thedisintegrating wheels.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the samereference characters.

My snow plow is mounted u )on the ordinary trucks of a car, and includesa body formed practicallv like the body of the ordinary box car which ismounted upon these trucks. The body of the car is to be made of steel,and the sides are ada ted to extend down on each side of the truexs, asshown in :Fig l. The car may be provided with win (lows and a rearentrance, if desired. The bottom. of the car has its forward edge 2slightly angled, as shown in Fig. This bottom is supported in rigidrelation to the sides by the transverse i lams 3 and the longitudinalsteel sills 4. As shown, there are three of these sills, one, 5.extending through the longitudinal middle of the ear and provided atopposite ends with the draw bars t5. T he lateral sills extend to thefront inclined walls of the car body and brace the same. The floor ofthecar is connected to the side walls thereof b v the angle irons 7. Theobject of this combination of longitudinal sills, transverse beams andthe angle irons 7 is to brace the ear body agai st shock, andparticularly to hold the is `ned front wall of the ear against strainand to brace the saine. lhc side. walls .s of thi ear body are ent. awayas at 5) to lit. over the transverse beams 3 so that, :i smooth outersurface is provided. The front', walls of the ear body are convez-gentlyinclined as at 10. The rear ends ot' the front wall start somewhat. backof the' forward extremity of the side wall 8 so that an angular.lpocket. is formed between the forward ends ol: the side walls 8 and therear ends of the front walls 10, `the door 2 extending outward beneaththis pocketas at M. Mounted en nach of the inclined faces l() is arotary wheel 11 which is shown in detail in liig. t3. This wheel l1 isof any suitable construction and is provided on its rear face withanti'riction rollers or ball bearings 11 which bear against thevinclined faces 10 of the plow and aclJ to supportl the body of thewheelagainst, thtl pressure of snow as the plow is forced into the snow bank.It it. were not. for these bearings, the rotary wheei would he delleetedand bent inward so that in time it would be jammed against the face ofthe plow. The wheel is provided with two'series of blades. The outerblades l2 are preferably rectangular in plan and project. outward atright. angles to the plane of the wheel ll. These blades are located onthe circumference of the wheel l1 and act as fans. Inward of the bladesl?. are the triangular blades 13 which act as knives to disintegrate ardcut. up the bank of snow into which the plow is being forced. Uf coursethe blades lil also act in this inanner, but. in addition thereto havethe peculiar function above. stated of fanning the snow back into thepocket. before referred to.

The wheels 11 may be driven in any suit.- able manner, preferably,however independentof each other by means of two independeut engines 14and l5 located within the car, these engines being supplied with au)-suit-- able motive power. As shown, the engines are` connected to aboiler 16. Any desired gearing may be used for driving the wheels l1from the en ines. I have shown for this purpose each ot `the wheels llprovided with an lnwardly projecting shaft l? which extends through thewall l0 and carries on its inner end a sprocket wheel 18 which is drivenby a sprocket chain 19 from a sprocket wheel on the engine shaft 20. Thesides 8 at their forward ends, just forward of the junction 0f the sideswith the inclined walls 10, are cut away as at 21, or otherwise formedto accommodate an upwardly extending' chute 22 which is attached to thebody of the car on the exterior thereot'. This chute 22 at its upper endis formed with a raceway 23 (see Fig. and carries upon it a rotatablehood 24, the lower end of this hood being angular-ly flanged as at 25 toproject over the racer. ay formed in the upper end of the chute 22.Antifrietion balls 26 are carried in the raceway, and by this means the.hood 24 is made rotatable on the upper end of the chute 22 so that the.hood may be directed into any desired direction. For the purpose ofturning the hood, I providea toothed wheel 27 which surrounds it and ismade rigid with the hood 24, this wheel intermeshing with a pinion 28mounted on a shaft Qtt which projects down through the ear rootl and isprovided with a handle or other means whereby the hood 24 nay be rotatedby hand.

. The forward end of the. car plattorm or floor beneath the inclinedwall 10 is provided with the angular plow blades 230 which are adaptedto extend downward between thc rails A of the track and exteriorly ofthe angular blades 30 the body is also provided with the blades 3l.These are parallel. to the blades 30, but are spaced from them so as toout the rails A between theirforward ends and the rear ends ot theblades 3 Thus the space between the track is cleared of snow and thespace immediately exterior of the track or rail is cleared of snow, thesnow 'being thrown upward where it. will be out of the way.

'lhe operation of my invention will be evident.. The snow plow isattached to the front of an ordinary train, or may be Seli"- propelled,as desired. As it plunges into thel snow bank, the wheels 11 are rotateddownward and rearward in the direction of the hands of a clock. Thisrotation of the wheels cuts up and disintegrates the. face of the snowbank against which the plow is forced, and the rotation of the wheelsacts to throw the snow rearward and upward and to force a currentV ofair upward and outward through the chute and the hood 2l, thus blowingthe disintegrated snow out through the chutes and hoods and oil1 beyondthe side of the track.

'hile l have shown what l believe to be the best embodiment; of myinvention, it is to be understood that I do not wish to be limited tothe details` shown, as the invention might be embodied in a number ofdifferent forms, without departing from the spirit thereof.

Having thus I claim is l. A .snow plow comprising a car body raving awedge-shaped vertical end, disintegrating wheels carried upon the facesof said wedge-shaped end, and chutes arranged adjacent to said wheel,through which the snow is forced by the'rotation of the wheel.

l. A snow plow having edge-shaped front ends, disintegrating wheelsrotatably vaunted on the sides of the wedge-shaped ends, and chutesarranged in aline-mene with the circumference of the. wheels butrearward of the shafts ot said wheels, said chutes` extending out at atangent to the wheels.

3. A snow having a wet ge-shaped vertical end, ro: rai-abledisintegrating wheels carried on the omased faces of the wedge-shapedend, eacn wheel having there in a series of fan blades, and chutesmounted on the car bod)r rearward of but adjacent to the disintegratingwheels` through which the snow is forced by the rotation of said wheels.

4. A snow plow having a wedge-shaped front end, disintegrating wheelsrotatably mounted on the sides of thc wedge-shaped end, and chutesarranged in alinement with the wheels but tothe rear ofthe shaftsthereof, said chutes extending upward at a tangentl to the wheels,curved hoods mounted upon the chutes for rotation around the axes of thechutes, and mechanism for rotating said hoods.

5. A snow plow having a wedge-sha ed front end, disintegrating wheelsrotatalbly mounted on the sides of the wedge-sha end, chutes arranged inalinement witl the described the invention, what'.

low comprising a car body llt! :tr hotly l'or intlt-pt ntlvntly v 'HILIA)l ll. FERGUSON,

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